Afghan president Hamid Karzai says a Pakistani was responsible for last month's assassination of former president and High Peace Council chairman Burhanuddin Rabbani.

Mr Karzai released a statement blaming an insurgent from Pakistan for the murder of Professor Rabbani as he reviewed Afghanistan's peace process.

It added that the death was plotted in Quetta and the killer had been living in Chaman, a Pakistani border town near Quetta.

The statement also quoted investigators as saying: "Documents and evidence together with the biography, address and phone numbers of suspects involved in the incident have been submitted to the government of Pakistan in order to arrest and hand them [other suspects] over."

Many Afghans are suspicious of Pakistan's connections to the Taliban-led insurgency in their country but the statement was the strongest yet to suggest a Pakistani link to Professor Rabbani's killing.

Professor Rabbani, chairman of Mr Karzai's High Peace Council, was killed by a turban suicide bomber at his home in Kabul on September 20.

He had thought that he was meeting a representative carrying a special message from the Taliban.

The statement came hours after Mr Karzai was reviewing his strategy for peace with the Taliban in the wake of Professor Rabbani's killing.

As part of Afghanistan peace talks, Mr Karzai announced he was abandoning attempted talks with the Taliban and opening negotiations with Pakistan instead.

"All peace talks with the Taliban are suspended. The president will review the peace and reconciliation strategy," the president's spokesman said.

The Taliban have long rejected Mr Karzai's calls for peace talks, saying they will not hold any discussions until all foreign troops leave the country.

Meanwhile, aid group Oxfam has released a report urging the government not to trade away the rights of women in any peace deal.

The report says Afghan women want peace, but not at the expense of hard-won gains. It says women's rights must be guaranteed.

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